2.2 Scene Structure Panel

Here you will find the objects, lights and cameras contained in the selected .c4d file. This area reflects the Cinema 4D Object Manager

Let’s take this simple scene, for example. The scene contains a cube, a sphere, a pyramid, 2 lights and 2 cameras. If you load this file in Illustrator, all items will appear in the Scene Structure panel.

To make things easier to read, the Cinema 4D items are divided into 3 categories: geometry, lights and cameras. Buttons in the upper-right of the panel let you choose from these three categories.

To enable or disable an object or light and to switch between cameras, all you need to do is to click on the eye icon next to the name.

Next to each object you will notice a material slot. If the object contains no material you will see the familiar “no color” Illustrator swatch.

You also have the ability to store new camera angles. This icon will be enabled only when you are in the camera tab.

You can delete a camera or an applied material by clicking on the trash can icon.

Creating a new camera

2.3 Attributes Panel

In this panel you can adjust everything related to the Cinema 4D scene, including object rotation, light intensity and material settings. The panel is context-sensitive and changes depending on what is selected in the Scene Structure panel. This behaves the same way the Attribute Manager does in Cinema 4D.

OBJECT PROPERTIES (e)

Position:Changes the position of the object in 3D spaceRotation: Changes the rotation of the object

Scale:Changes the scale of the object

LIGHT PROPERTIES (f)

Color:Sets the color of the lightIntensity:Sets how strong the light will beShadows:Turn on and off the shadows of the light

CAMERA PROPERTIES (g)

Position:Changes the position of the camera in 3D space

Rotation:Changes the rotation of the cameraPhysical attributes: Focus distance:Defines the focal planeF-Stop (Aperture):An aperture of 1.2 will create more depth of field than a setting of 8. In order to use this effect it must first be enabled in the Cinema 4D file’s render settings.

Shutter speed:Defines how long the shutter should remain open. Slower shutter speeds will create correspondingly more motion blur.

2.4 Materials panel

Here is where you will find all materials connected to a given Cinema 4D scene. All materials you apply from within Illustrator will be found here as well.

Materials panel

List View/Icon View:These two icons change the way the materials are displayed. The icon view displays the thumbnails of the materials side by side with the name of the selected material showing only on the top left. The list views displays the name of the material next to each material thumbnail.

New Material:Clicking on this icon will create a new default material. A popup will give you the opportunity to name your material. Alternatively you can duplicate a material by dragging it to the “new” icon or selecting the material you want to duplicate and hitting the “new” icon.

You can also create a new material by dragging the artwork straight to the materials panel. A new material will be created with the artwork as a texture in the color channel.

Trash Can: When a material is selected a trash can icon appears in the bottom right of the panel. Dragging a material into the trash can will delete it from the scene and all objects it is applied to.